# Steven Universe



## Autumn (Jul 20, 2015)

alright y'all i _know_ there are people here that watch it and it's probably more than just me, VM, and DarkAura

Basically it's a Cartoon Network cartoon that has been making waves on the Internet the same way My Little Pony did in 2010. It has deep, nuanced characters (PEARL my baby I understand everything u do ; ;), excellent music, on-point voice acting (including Nicki Minaj in one episode!), and very self-aware humor that's funnier than it should be for a kid's cartoon.

Also, lesbians. (And no I'm not kidding.)

My first thought upon watching it was "this is like a Western magical girl show, isn't it?" and honestly that's what the fight scenes end up looking like but there's so much more going on - and at its core it's a coming-of-age story about a young boy. The titular character, Steven Universe, is a 10-year-old boy that's being raised variously by his ex-rock-star dad who lives in his van, Greg, and the Crystal Gems, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst: three immortal space alien rock women who are protecting Earth (and specifically their residence, the tiny seaside town of Beach City) from various magical threats. Steven's mom, Rose Quartz, was a Crystal Gem who gave up her physical being to give life to Steven. Thus he's half-human half-gem and is still in the process of discovering and perfecting his magical gem powers, all the while growing up as a human boy and having a life that none of the Crystal Gems can _really_ relate to, since they're not humans raised on Earth.

It is a perf show and I am hopelessly in love with it and everyone should watch it, it can be watched free on kisscartoon.me and all the episodes released so far are there so everyone watch it right now and then come back here and discuss your thoughts _that means you reader_


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## Vipera Magnifica (Jul 20, 2015)

Some reasons you should watch Steven Universe:

The characters have diverse body types. Despite half the characters being fat, they are never shamed for it or made the butt of a "fat joke".

The show is very progressive, and LGBTQ+ friendly. There are canon non-binary characters and lesbian lovers. 

The characters are very well-written, with strengths and flaws. 

The songs are great. 

There are lots of subtle references to everything from Pokémon to Final Fantasy

It's fun to make a fan character, or "gemsona"

This show will take you on an emotional joyride

The whole concept of fusion is really cool

The lessons it teaches kids are very important and realistic

It's great okay, go watch it


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## JackPK (Jul 20, 2015)

Another point in favor of Steven Universe: creator Rebecca Sugar is still with the show, shows no signs of going away anytime soon, and in fact, if my understanding is correct, has a bigger-than-usual hand in the day-to-day creative work of the show than many animated series' creators.

This is an especially big point in comparison to My Little Pony, which had a fairly outstanding first season but very quickly went to shit after creator Lauren Faust left and the new show runners fell into the trap of focusing more on pleasing the adult male fans than making a quality children's show that could stand up on its own right.


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## Ether's Bane (Jul 21, 2015)

Altissimo said:


> alright y'all i _know_ there are people here that watch it and it's probably more than just me, VM, and DarkAura
> 
> Basically it's a Cartoon Network cartoon that has been making waves on the Internet the same way My Little Pony did in 2010. It has deep, nuanced characters (PEARL my baby I understand everything u do ; ;), excellent music, on-point voice acting (including Nicki Minaj in one episode!), and very self-aware humor that's funnier than it should be for a kid's cartoon.
> 
> ...


I'm... pretty sure _every single person_ still active here watches it. :P (I browse other TCoDers'/ex-TCoDers' Tumblrs, so that's how I know.)\

And yes, Pearl so reminds me of myself as well.



Vipera Magnifica said:


> Some reasons you should watch Steven Universe:
> 
> The characters have diverse body types. Despite half the characters being fat, they are never shamed for it or made the butt of a "fat joke".
> 
> The show is very progressive, and LGBTQ+ friendly. There are canon non-binary characters and lesbian lovers.


And this is why, in my opinion, even if you're not a fan, if you even give a damn about this stuff. you ought to buy the merch, watch it on TV, save the show, etc. Steven Universe is literally the most socially progressive kid's cartoon _of all time_, and that's no exaggeration.

(Actually, I personally can't understand how someone who cares about this stuff _wouldn't_ like Steven Universe. Then again, there's my two siblings, who would be counterexamples...)



> The characters are very well-written, with strengths and flaws.


Yep.



> The songs are great.


Not really my cup of tea, but hey, to each his own.



> [*]There are lots of subtle references to everything from Pokémon to Final Fantasy


Absolutely.



> It's fun to make a fan character, or "gemsona"


Done, actually! His name's Chalcedony.



> This show will take you on an emotional joyride
> 
> The whole concept of fusion is really cool
> 
> ...


All completely agreed.



JackPK said:


> Another point in favor of Steven Universe: creator Rebecca Sugar is still with the show, shows no signs of going away anytime soon, and in fact, if my understanding is correct, has a bigger-than-usual hand in the day-to-day creative work of the show than many animated series' creators.
> 
> This is an especially big point in comparison to My Little Pony, which had a fairly outstanding first season but very quickly went to shit after creator Lauren Faust left and the new show runners fell into the trap of focusing more on pleasing the adult male fans than making a quality children's show that could stand up on its own right.


Absolutely agreed, in both paragraphs, though for me, change "first season" to "first two seasons". (I've talked ad infinitum about this, so I'll stop here.)


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## Autumn (Jul 21, 2015)

Well nobody taaaaaalked about it so I wanted to see who else waaaaatched it /whine


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## I liek Squirtles (Jul 21, 2015)

I... don't think I've properly watched it. I've watched a few episodes (I remember one about cat fingers? and another one about some ice cream sandwich), but I've been shy about watching it because I was expecting something more like teen titans go! or uncle grandpa or something of that not-good caliber. Now I'll definitely watch it! ^^


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## Autumn (Jul 21, 2015)

I liek Squirtles said:


> uncle grandpa


There is an Uncle Grandpa/SU crossover in Season 2. It's actually kind of amazing since it basically spends the whole ep making fun of the rabid SU fandom


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## kyeugh (Jul 21, 2015)

I think I watched most of the second season!  It was available on the plane.  I've also seen a lot of the first season because Evan watches it, but there are bits that I know I'm missing so I'm really anxious to start it all over and watch it all through.  Gotta finish free! first.  I can confirm that the music is indeed amazing, and it seems incredibly complex for something that initially seemed to be oriented towards a younger audience.  I checked it out because I know a lot of people are really fascinated with it and it totally caught me off guard.


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## Butterfree (Jul 21, 2015)

Because _literally everyone_ appears to think this is the best cartoon in the history of cartoons, I've been vaguely planning to attempt to watch it, but Shadey isn't terribly interested so I may have to sneak it in sometime when he isn't around or something. And possibly once I've started I'll have more ammunition to convince him. Because like, right now it actually doesn't sound that interesting to me either, so these conversations tend to go "Hey, want to watch this cartoon? It's something about a kid being raised by aliens named after rocks and Tumblr thinks they're all lesbians or something, and supposedly it's the best thing ever?" "Not... particularly?"


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## Autumn (Jul 21, 2015)

Butterfree said:


> Because _literally everyone_ appears to think this is the best cartoon in the history of cartoons, I've been vaguely planning to attempt to watch it, but Shadey isn't terribly interested so I may have to sneak it in sometime when he isn't around or something. And possibly once I've started I'll have more ammunition to convince him. Because like, right now it actually doesn't sound that interesting to me either, so these conversations tend to go "Hey, want to watch this cartoon? It's something about a kid being raised by aliens named after rocks and Tumblr thinks they're all lesbians or something, and supposedly it's the best thing ever?" "Not... particularly?"


It's not the best cartoon in the history of cartoons and really everyone on tumblr who is obsessing over it needs to shut up about it. But it is a good cartoon and I felt like sharing lmao.

Though Tumblr doesn't _think_ they're all lesbians. Some characters literally are lesbians and this is made more than plenty obvious in the show itself, though not til late in it.


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## ultraviolet (Jul 21, 2015)

me and MD are up to date with Steven Universe and I actually really like  it! I think it's got really good character-driven storylines and I like  that it's not at all ashamed to be about the characters more than about  the actual plot. plus, the art is so pretty! I have a folder of background art from SU rotating as my desktop wallpapers. The music's super cute too.



Altissimo said:


> It's not the best cartoon in the history of cartoons and really everyone on tumblr who is obsessing over it needs to shut up about it.


I don't really understand this. It's fandom, what do you expect? should people not be posting about shows they like ??


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## Autumn (Jul 21, 2015)

It's gotten to the point where the rabid SJW fans have made it so the writers don't want to answer questions because of fear of what kind of shit will be started as a result, and at least one show person got harassed off of tumblr by said "fans". That's what I mean.


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## DarkAura (Jul 29, 2015)

I've been neglecting to post in this thread for like, a week, 'cause there's just so much I wanna say about this show, and yet so little I _can_ say without rehashing what everyone else has said.

I think, what I love most about this show is how _earnest_ it feels. Like, it doesn't feel mocking or mean-spirited. It's just so... I dunno the right word for it. Fun? Honest? Complex? They manage to work all of those together, and it's just so so enjoyable.


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## Surfingpichu (Aug 16, 2015)

D'aw Steven Universe. I honestly like this show a lot. DarkAura I think said it very well above, it's earnest and it feels very genuine. I might not be absolutely eveyone's cup of tea, but the songs are cute and the story is just deep enough to be compelling but not so nebulous that it's hard to follow.

As for the fandom, eh. It's a fandom. There are ups and downs. I don't think it's enough of a bother to take away from the show, and there are a lot of sweet people I've met at cons while cosplaying for SU. It's a mixed bag, but isn't everything?


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